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| Weekly Roundup |
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The latest news from the State Capitol |
Legislation to Increase School Safety Introduced
Recently, I introduced two pieces of legislation to strengthen safety in the Commonwealth’s public schools.
House Bill 1423 would require each public school district to create at least one multi-disciplinary threat assessment team to identify students in distress before their behavior escalates to a level that raises concerns about safety. These teams would build on the Safe2Say Something Program that was created under Act 44 of 2018. This law developed a tip line that allows students, teachers and community residents to anonymously report any unsafe, potentially harmful, dangerous, violent or criminal activities in schools. Ortitay’s legislation also would require the School Safety and Security Committee to create a threat assessment taskforce to support the development of the school district teams.
House Bill 1422 would create the School Grounds Self-Defense Training Program to provide violent intruder and active shooter training for school district employees. In addition, up to $5,000 grants per building would be available for school districts to fund this training. The Pennsylvania Department of Education would designate firms offering these types of training.
Both bills were referred to the House Education Committee.
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Government Done Right Requires Efficiency, Transparency, Fiscal Responsibility
As part of our “Government Done Right” initiative, House Republicans passed additional bills this week to increase transparency, save taxpayers money and improve the efficiency of government.
House Bill 880 would extend and accelerate the reduction of the debt ceiling for the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program by $500 million over five years. Lowering our debt reduces the financial burden of current and future taxpayers.
To ensure businesses get effective and efficient treatment when navigating the Commonwealth’s legal system, the House voted to create Commerce Courts. Under House Bill 332, these courts would have judges dedicated to hearing and deciding complex business-related cases, including acquisitions, mergers, dissolutions and liquidations, among other items.
The bills now go to the Senate for its consideration.
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Expanding Education Opportunities
More students and their families would have access to additional educational options under legislation approved by the House this week to expand the successful Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) program.
House Bill 800 would increase funding for the program by $100 million to $210 million, providing tens of thousands of additional Pennsylvania families the ability to choose a school that best fits their students’ needs.
In order to ensure that the scholarship program can continue to grow to meet demand, the legislation would also establish an automatic escalator, increasing the EITC scholarship cap by 10% whenever 90% of the tax credits are claimed in the prior year.
To allow more middle-class families access to this program, the bill would increase the maximum annual household income by $10,000 (to $95,000, before add-ons per child), while guaranteeing that once a student has received a scholarship, he or she will remain eligible through high school graduation regardless of changes to family income.
The EITC program provides tax credits to businesses that make contributions to approved scholarship organizations offering scholarships to children in kindergarten through grade 12, educational improvement organizations providing funding for innovative educational programs in public schools, and pre-kindergarten scholarship organizations offering scholarships to children enrolled in pre-kindergarten programs.
The bill now moves to the Senate for its consideration.
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Improving CPR Education to Save Lives
This week the House passed Senate Bill 115 aimed at teaching students cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to help them save lives.
The bill would require the Pennsylvania Department of Education to work with the Department of Health and other stakeholders to develop curriculum that could be used by schools across the state. The aim is to help reduce the more than 350,000 cardiac arrests that occur outside of a hospital each year by preparing students to save lives through CPR and the use of an automated external defibrillator (AED).
The bill now heads back to the Senate for its concurrence.
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Celebrating Our Small Businesses
This week marks Small Business Week in Pennsylvania.
Small businesses are the backbone of the Commonwealth’s economy, employing over 2.5 million people. In fact, 99.6% of employers in the state are small businesses.
House Republicans have been working hard to help Pennsylvania’s small businesses thrive and grow by cutting the red tape that creates barriers to growth and cleaning up our outdated laws.
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| Office Locations |
| 300 Old Pond Road, Suite 205A, Bridgeville, PA 15017 | Phone: (412) 221-5110 |
| Room 143-A, East Wing, PO Box 202046, Harrisburg PA 17120-2046 | (717) 787-1281 |
| Email: jortitay@pahousegop.com |
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